Land and water toy



May 22, 1923.. 1,456,429

- J. L. DUGGAN LAND AND WATER TOY Filed June 29 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Iale.

. ATTORNEYS May 22, 1923. 1,456,429

J. L. DUGGAN LAND AND WATER TOY FiledfJune 29 1921 4 3 Sheets-Sheet 2WITNESSES INVEfl/ TOR i r A Jay A TTORNEYS Ma 2i2, -1-923. 1,456,429

- J. 1.. DUGG AN LAND AND WATER TOY FiledfJune 29 1921 s sheets sh et 5INVENTOR Z .Dug'a'azp.

A TTORNEYS Patented May 22, 1923.

UNITED STATES JOSEPH L. DUGGAN, OF SPARROWS POINT, MARYLAND.

LAND AND WATER TOY.

Application filed June 29, 1921.

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Josnrrr L. DUGGAN, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Sparrows Point and the State of Maryland, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Land and ater Toys, ofwhich the following is a specification.

The present invention relates in general to land and water toys and moreparticularly to a toy boat of this character in which an animated figuresimulating an oarsman is arranged.

The object of the invention is to provide a toy of this character inwhich the boat progresses forwardly seemingly by virtue of the action ofthe animated figure which partakes of the motion of an oarsman tooperate a pair of oars.

Another object is to provide a toy of this character in which the motionof the animated figure has the cadence and the char acter of the naturalmotion of the human oarsman, especially as it partakes of the body swingand of the translation or bodily movement due to the leg drive.

Another object is to provide a toy of this character which is of simpleand durable construction, easy and inexpensive to manu facture andattractive and amusing in operation.

Other objects and advantages of the invention reside in certain novelfeatures of construction, combination and arrangement of parts whichwill be hereinafter more fully described and particularly pointed out inthe appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawingsforming part of this specification, and in which:.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a toy embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is a view in longitudinal vertical section; r

Figure 3 is a plan view;

Figure 4. is a-detail view of the spring motor in side elevation, one ofthe blades of the barrel being removed and parts being shown in sectionfor the sake of illustration;

Figure 5 is a detail perspective view of the plate of the spring valve,the T head of the coil spring being shown in position prior to assembly;

Figure 6 isa detail perspective view of the means for securing'the innerend of the coil spring; a

Serial No. 481,285.

Figure 7 is a detail perspective view of the ratchet disk of the springmotor;

Figure 8 is a detail perspective View of.

the link; and

Figures 9, 10, 11 and 12 are diagrammatic views illustrating the mannerin which the animated figure is constrained to partake of its motion.

Referring to the drawings wherein for the sake of illustration is shownthe preferred embodiment of the invention the nu meral l0 designates thebody or hull of the boat, which includes a bottom wall 11 and side walls12, both of which converge toward the forward end to form the bow and arear wall 13 which forms the stern.

At the rear end of the body a fixed axle 15 extends transversely betweenthe side walls of the hull and is supported thereon and has rotatablymounted thereon wheels 16. A drive axle 18 is rotatably mounted in theside walls of the body adjacent the forward or bow end of the boat andhas fixed thereto traction wheels 19 by which the boat is advanced.

I An animated figure indicated generally at 20 is arranged in the hulland is constructed to simulate an oarsman, the figure comprising a body21, a head 22, arms 23 fixed to the body and extending outwardlytherefrom and legs 21 pivotally connected to the lloloily, the legsresting on the bottom of the A pair of oars 25 is provided, the oarsincluding shanks 26 and blades 27, the shanks 26 being mounted inoar-locks 26 and the shanks having at their ends grips 28 which arepivotally connected to the arms 23 as indicated at 29. A crank shaft isrotatably journaled in bearings provided therefor on the side walls ofthe-hull and preferably is arranged forwardlyof theanimated figure. Thecrank shaft 35 has a crank 36 intermediate its ends'with which one endof a link 38 connects by means of a bearing portion 39 formed thereinwhereby the link is pivotally connected to the crank. The opposite endof the link is positively and rigidly connected to the body of theanimated figure by means of an extension 39 which is arranged to extendbetween slits 21 formed in the body of the animatedfig ure. The link 38includes a rocking lever arm 40 and a lower curved retaining arm 41 fora purpose to hereinafter more fully appear.

A spring motor designated generally at 45 is carried by one of the sidewalls of the hull and includes a winding shaft 46 having a winding key47 at one end. The winding shaft 46 extends transversely of the hull andbetween the rocking lever arm 40 and the curved retaining arm 41 of thelink 38, the winding shaft constituting a sliding fulcrum for therockinglever arm of the link. A spring barrel, designated generally at48 is rotatably mounted on the winding shaft and comprises amain plate49 and a gear plate 50 held together inspaced relation by means ofconnecting bars 51 having lock lugs 52 at their ends which extendthrough suitable openings provided therefor in the gear plate and arethen bent to secure the elements of the spring valve in the assembly.The gear plate 50 is provided on its periphery with gear teeth 53. Acoil spring 55 is arranged in the spring barrel and has a T head 56formedatits outer end and seated in a notch 57 provided therefor in oneof the connecting bars 52 whereby the outer end of the springisconnected with the spring barrel. The inner end of the spring isprovided with a loop 58 with which the bridge piece 59 of a retainingclip 60 is engaged, the retaining clip 60 having a pair of ears 61provided with squared openings 62 which receive the squared windingshaft. In this manner the inner end of the spring is connected, to thewinding shaft since the loop embraces the bridge piece of the clamp andthe clip overlies the adjacent portion of the coil spring.

Retrograde movement of the spring barrel is prevented by means of aratchet disk 65 having a squared opening 66 receiving the winding shaftwhereby it is constrained to motiontherewith. A plurality of ratchetteeth 67 are provided at the periphery of the disk and are ofisetlaterally from the plane of the disk proper. In the assembly, theratchet disk is disposed between the spring barrel and the adjacent sidewall of the hub and cooperates with a detent 68 struck from the metal ofthe side wall and engageable with the ratchet teeth 67. The ratchetteeth 67 being resilient ride over the detent during the winding of thespring but positively engage it to prevent retrograde movement of thespring barrel.

The gear plate 53 of the spring barrel drives a pinion 70 fixed to thecrank shaft 35. Preferably the pinion 70 comprises a circular plate 71having a circular series of openings which receive the free ends ofspaced bars 72 extending longitudinally of the crank shaft and at rightangles to a small disk 7 3by which they are carried.

Gearing is provided for driving the traction wheels from the crank shaftand includes a large gear 75 fixed to the crank shaft and meshed with asmall gear 7 6 fixed to the drive axle.

In the use of the toy the spring .motor is wound by manipulating the key47 of the winding shaft to tension the coil spring, the traction wheelsbeing held by the operator against movement during this action.

The toy is then placed upon the floor, table, tank or other fiat surfaceand released. The spring motor then rotates the crank shaft which inturn rotates the drive axle to advance the toy. Assuming the oars to beat the catch that is where the blades of the oars are at the positionwhere they would just enter the water on the power or drive stroke, thecrank of the crank shaft is in a position just in advance of theposition shown in Figure 10. Then as the crank shaft continues to rotatethe link 38 draws the figure to the rear of the boat and the lever armof the link riding on the fulcrum constituted by the 'winding shaftlifts thebody of the figure slightly and causes it to swing relative tothe legs of the figure thereby giving the efiect of the body swing. Asthe power stroke progresses the lever arm of the link rides downwardlyon the fulcrum constituted by the winding shaft to swing the body of thefigure downwardly in the final phase of its body swing as shown inFigure 11. In Figure 12 the body and crank are shown in the positionthey assume in the initial phase of the recovery, at which time thelever arm of the link being lifted upwardly by the crank and the curvedretaining arm of the link comes into play to prevent upward displacementof the animated figure. On the recovery or return motion of the figurethe link slides downwardly in the opposite direction to permit thefigure to ride forwardly and its body to swing forwardly about the jointbetween the legs and the bow.

In this manner the cars are made to partake of the usual motion underthe action shaft assist in the advance of the boat butas this mechanismis concealed within the boat the animated figure apparently constitutesthe driving force. The body or hull of the boat is water tight up to theaxles so that when it is placed in water. the blades in partaking oftheir movement themselves function to move the boat. If the boatisplaced in a shallow container of water both the oars and the tractionwheels act to move the boat. 5 r

I claim:

1. In a toy of the character described; a boat body, a fixed axlecarriedat one end of said body, wheels rotatably mounted n said fixedaxle, a drive axle mountedatthej other end of thebody, tract-ionv wheelsto said drive axle, an animated figure. simulating an oarsman arrangedin said body and including a body portion and legs pivotally connectedthereto, a pair of oars operated by the animated figure, means forcausing said animated figure to partake of a rowing motion including acrank shaft, a spring motor for driving said crank shaft including awinding shaft, a spring barrel rotatable on said winding shaft, a coilspring having one end connected to said spring barrel and the other endconnected to said winding shaft, and means for preventing retrogrademovement of the winding shaft, a link including a rocking lever having asliding fulcrum on the winding shaft and connected at one end with thecrank shaft and at the other end with the body portion of the animatedfigure, and a retaining bar for preventing displacement of the link fromthe winding shaft, and gearing for driving the drive axle from the crankshaft.

2. In a toy of the character described, a boat body, an animated figuresimulating an oarsman arranged in said body and including a body portionand legs pivotally connected thereto, a pair of oars operated by theanimated figure, means for causing said animated figure to partake of arowing motion including a crank shaft, a spring motor for driving saidcrank shaft including a winding shaft, a spring barrel rotatable on saidwinding shaft, a coil spring having one end connected to said springbarrel and the other end connected to said winding shaft, means forpreventing retrograde movement of the winding shaft, a link inwindingshaft.

3. In a toy boat, a boat body, an animated figure arranged in said boatbody simulating an oarsman, and means for causing said animated figureto partake of a rowing motion and including a crank shaft, a motor fordriving said crank shaft, a shaft arranged in approximately the samehorizontal plane and offset horizontally from said crank shaft, and alink including a rocking lever having a sliding fulcrum on said shaftand operatively connected at one end'to said crank shaft and alsopivotally connected at its other end to said animated figure.

4. In a toy, a boat body, an animated figure arranged in said body andmeans for causing said animated figure to partake of a rowing motionincluding a spring motor comprising a winding shaft, a spring barrelrotatably mounted on said winding shaft, a coil spring arranged in saidspring barrel and having one end connected to the spring barrel and theother end connected to the winding shaft, a ratchet carried by saidwinding shaft and having peripheral ratchet teeth deflected laterally,and a detent carried by the boat body engageable with said ratchet toprevent retrograde movement of the winding shaft.

JOSEPH L. DU GGAN.

